Coast Guard finds missing 80-year-old boater

Monday

Jul 9, 2018 at 3:05 PMJul 10, 2018 at 7:58 AM

BOSTON — The Coast Guard rescued an 80-year-old man about 5 p.m. Monday after he set sail from Cuttyhunk to New Bedford and didn't check in as expected.

Peter Horan's caretaker called watchstanders at Sector Southeastern New England at about 11:45 a.m. reporting that Horan was missing in his 34-foot cabin cruiser, Best Friends, after he didn't return to New Bedford at noon as planned.

“The 20-mile trip should not have taken this long,” a Coast Guard spokesman said Monday afternoon. He said the last location the Coast Guard received on Horan was around 5 a.m. Monday when a cellphone ping had his boat on the northwest side of Naushon Island.

Coast Guard aircrews from Air Station Cape Cod and boat crews from Stations Woods Hole and Menemsha, along with crews from various partner agencies, scoured the Buzzards Bay area searching for Horan and his boat, according to a Coast Guard news release.

While monitoring Ch. 16 during the search, watchstanders overheard a radio hail from a good Samaritan in Rhode Island calling the vessel Best Friends. Watchstanders launched Station Castle Hill after determining the hail was coming from a sailing vessel near the Sakonnet River, the release said.

The 45-foot response boat crew arrived on scene and escorted Horan to awaiting family and Emergency Medical Services at Sakonnet Harbor, officials said.

Crews searched about 425 square miles, almost the size of New York City, the Coast Guard said.